New York, NY – May 15, 2013 – As analytics become increasingly important in every marketing practitioner’s life, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) is launching a first-of-its-kind award recognizing leadership in applying smart analytics to successful marketing programs. Open to ANA member companies, and sponsored by leading marketing analytics firm MarketShare, the award offers a $50,000 cash prize to the individual or team demonstrating the most effective application of analytics to benchmark and improve marketing investment ROI.

The Marketing Analytics Leadership Award spotlights and celebrates today’s rapid adoption of analytics in planning and measuring marketing investments. The nomination process begins immediately, and will close August 1, 2013. The inaugural award will be presented at this year’s ANA Masters of Marketing Annual Conference, to be held October 3-6 in Phoenix, Ariz.

Three finalists will be selected by a distinguished panel of current and former CMOs, along with business thought leaders from academic institutions UCLA and Harvard. Attendees of the Masters of Marketing Conference will also have a chance to vote for their preferred nominee.

“Marketing analytics is a critically important part of demonstrating the return on marketing investment, and this new award will recognize individuals leading their companies in adopting credible, practical analytic practices,” said ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice. “The ANA is fully committed to accelerating the role of analytics in benchmarking and improving advertising and marketing effectiveness.”

“Analytics aren’t just about making short-term contributions to marketing measurement,” added Pat LaPointe, executive vice president at MarketShare. “Today’s advanced analytics help marketing organizations build long-term asset and shareholder value, and this award will help marketers who are true leaders in the field gain recognition for the value they are delivering.”

Entries will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Clarity, relevance, and magnitude of the marketing questions being addressed

Innovative approaches taken to address the questions and/or overcome obstacles

Scientific rigor applied in the approach to the solution(s)

Steps taken to align key stakeholders and ensure organizational adoption of the outcomes

Demonstrated impact on the business, measured against a credible benchmark

Evidence of a continuous improvement process in place

Testimonials of senior marketing, finance, or business unit leaders regarding the impact of the analysis on key business decisions

“It’s exciting to see marketing analytics elevated by this award,” said judging panel member Becky Saeger, former CMO of Charles Schwab and former ANA chairperson. "Today's state-of-the-art analytic tools effectively help align marketing investments to business results in a way we could only imagine just a few years ago. This award will highlight actual results, and hopefully inspire every CMO, CFO, and CEO to take advantage of these critical business tools."

“Creativity remains important for CMOs and other marketers,” said Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer of P&G, former ANA chairperson, and another judging panel member. “But the real leaders in marketing are good at both the art and the science. The analytics capabilities we have are enormous, and it makes perfect sense to recognize talented teams that are putting those capabilities to use driving business results.”

In addition to Saeger and Stengel, the Marketing Analytics Leadership Award panel of judges includes:

Tom Davenport, professor at Babson College and visiting professor at the Harvard Business School

Dominique Hanssens, PhD, professor at the UCLA/Anderson School of Management, and former executive director of the Marketing Science Institute

Claire Huang, CMO at JPMorgan Chase

Jon Iwata, senior vice president, marketing and communications at IBM

Rob Malcolm, former president of global marketing, sales and innovation at Diageo, and lecturer at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

“As a member of the judging panel, I’m looking forward to seeing some of the innovative approaches and scientific rigor that marketers are bringing to analytics,” Davenport said. “This awards program will help data-minded marketers get the recognition they deserve.”

About the ANAFounded in 1910, the ANA (Association of National Advertisers) leads the marketing community by providing its members with insights, collaboration, and advocacy. ANA's membership includes more than 525 companies with 10,000 brands that collectively spend over $250 billion in marketing and advertising. The ANA strives to communicate marketing best practices, lead industry initiatives, influence industry practices, manage industry affairs, and advance, promote, and protect all advertisers and marketers. For more information, visit http://www.ana.net/, follow us on Twitter, join us on Facebook, or visit our YouTube channel.

About MarketShareMarketShare is an analytics company that enables businesses to grow efficiently by uncovering which actions really drive results. Founded in 2005, MarketShare has a track record of groundbreaking innovations in data, modeling and software, and has worked with over half of the Fortune 50. MarketShare's platform provides a combination of technology, data, modeling and business intelligence solutions that lead to improved decision making, next-generation attribution and optimization for businesses. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in San Francisco, New York, London, Tokyo and Bangalore. For more information, visit: http://www.marketshare.com; follow us on twitter @MarketShareCo